Comparisons of segregating populations for genetic mapping

Abstract

The advent of molecular marker techniques allowed the construction of high informative genetic linkage maps for several vegetal species. Maximum likelihood has come into use for genetic mapping for estimation of several parameters, including the average information content (A.I.C.) and variance V(r) ? of the recombination values “r”. Our study presents the A.I.C. and V(r) ? of various population types as additional criteria for the choice of the mapping population, since they define accuracy and trustworthiness of the estimated recombination frequencies. The populations with the most accurate recombination estimates are the F2 population mapped with codominant markers and the RIL (recombinant inbred lines) populations for low recombination values. The employment of the A.I.C. and variance V(r) ? of the recombination values may contribute to the quality of the molecular data and be an indicator for the cases where more robust analyses are necessary.